I’m very proud to present my latest video. It’s a tribute to the wok—an instrument of life force, a vessel of history and tradition, and a trusty companion that helped me survive a tough summer. I’d been thinking about this video for a long time before I finally got to work on it. My concept was that so many people think the wok is just a stir-fry pan, but it’s so much more. While researching my cookbook, The Breath of A Wok, the Chinese culinary legend Florence Lin said to me, “With one wok you can do everything.” I was Read More …

I rarely give talks in New York City, but on Tuesday, July 18th I’ll be speaking about “The Wok in America” at the Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD) in Brooklyn, where the exhibition, “Chow: Making the Chinese American Restaurant” is currently on view. My own family’s wok, circa 1949, is one of the items on display. If you’re familiar with my cookbooks, you might remember that my parents did not use a wok. They stir-fried with a stainless-steel skillet because a round-bottomed wok wouldn’t work on their electric stove. I was reunited with my ancestral wok just a few Read More …

In December, I reported that the Cen brothers, the Shanghai wok artisans whose woks grace the cover of “The Breath of a Wok,” closed shop. Since that posting I’ve received numerous emails, some desperate on how to buy a Cen hand-pounded wok. Sadly, there is no hidden stash. Someone I know contacted one of the brothers who confirmed the business is permanently closed. There is some good news in the hand-pounded wok universe. A few months ago, Christopher St Cavish wrote a piece Meeting Tao Qingjian,The Last Woksmith in Smartshanghai.com. Tao’s woks are dramatically different from the Cen woks because the Read More …

It’s hard to believe it’s been eight years since my father passed away. Without Baba, I would not have written “The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen.” Of all my books it is the one dearest to me. When I was a child my parents didn’t think it was important to teach me how to cook. Juggling the demands of a full-time job, by the time my mother came home and started cooking the evening meal, it was with brusque efficiency. The tone of the kitchen was not a relaxed atmosphere that encouraged my participating. Nor would my parents have allowed me Read More …

“With this extraordinarily inspiring and comprehensive book, Grace Young establishes herself not only as one of the world’s great experts in Chinese cooking but as one of its few genuine masters. Buy it, read it, cook from it-and soon you will be on your way to becoming a stir-frying master yourself.”
–James Oseland, editor-in-chief of Saveur

“When it comes to stir-frying, I have a guru, the cookbook author Grace Young. Her new cookbook, “Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge,” is the ultimate guide, whether you’re a beginner or a chef.” Martha Rose Shulman New York Times

“Stir-frying may have been pedestrianized by generations of vegetarian college students, but this beautiful, comprehensive cookbook restores it to its rightful place among the most elegant cookery techniques. The virtues of stir-frying, Young writes, are many: it makes bounty out of small amounts of meat and oil; it emphasizes healthful vegetables; and most importantly, it creates alchemic flavor out of raw ingredients. Young has a scholarly yet impassioned approach, and she fuses personal anecdotes, meticulously researched history, and stir-fry”“related arcana to illuminate her subject. For the serious home cook, this informative, lyrical tome is an inspiration.” Publishers Weekly

Chicago Tribuneselects “Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge” as one of the Top 10 Cookbooks to keep!

NPRselects “Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge” as a Top Ten Cookbook of 2010
“If you heed Grace Young, whose previous cookbook taught a lesson to those of us who thought a wok was just another pan. Young’s thorough yet streamlined book zooms in on the minutiae of the correct stir-fry — from how to chop your protein to what to listen and look for in the pan. But her book is broad as well as deep, offering panoramic views of the universe of stir-fry from Singapore to Astoria.” T. Susan Chang NPR

Multimedia

The Leonard Lopate Show In this radio interview Grace discusses the techniques and
traditions of stir-frying with veteran NPR host Leonard Lopate.

Chow.com Video A video from the brilliant folks at Chow.com that shows the most common stir-fry mistakes.

Capturing the Elusive ‘Breath of a Wok’ Join Grace and All Things Considered host Melissa Block on a visit to New York City’s Chinatown to buy a traditional iron wok and to learn the special vitality of the “breath of a wok.”